Review – Paul

Remember those crazy neighbourhood games you’d play as a kid? Good times. It seems Simon Pegg and Nick Frost missed out on playing those games as kids and decided to make a living out of it. So far we’ve had humans and zombies with ‘Shaun of the Dead’ plus cops and robbers with ‘Hot Fuzz’. Get ready for men and aliens with the British duos tribute to sci-fi films ‘Paul’. In ‘Paul’ Grame (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost) are two sci-fi fans visiting UFO sites across America when they encounter a real alien named Paul (Seth Rogen) who is on the run from the U.S Government. ‘Paul’ is a film that wears its sci-fi heart on its sleeve with Pegg and Frost referencing everything from ‘E.T’ to ‘Aliens’ while doing it in their own comedic style that works well. The film is let down by an underused supporting cast as well as a plot that goes around in circles.

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are great in ‘Paul’ and reaffirm that they are a great comedic duo and have the star power to open a film based on their names alone. Pegg and Frost are also on scripting duties for this film and they do a great job of injecting the film with as many sci-fi references as possible. Some of the references are great while others are pointless in the same way an episode of ‘The Family Guy’ just references something for the sake of referencing with no joke or pun intended. Hard core sci-fi fans will lap it up while the unenlightened may find the references going straight over their heads. The good news is there is enough humour void of references to keep you giggling along with the brilliant Kristen Wigg delivering some of the film’s best gags as well as the potty mouthed alien Paul voiced by Seth Rogen.
The downside of ‘Paul’ is some of the support cast that includes Jason Bateman, Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio who are all wasted playing government agents on the hunt for the fugitive alien. All the scenes they appear in suck the life out of the film and don’t play to the comedic strength of the trio which is a real disappointment. Some pacing issues let the film down as the plot goes around in circles with not a lot of the action pushing the story forward which halts things to a snore.

‘Paul’ is a sci-fi film made by two of the biggest geeks on the planet Simon Pegg and Nick Frost; I bow down before their nerdy greatness and look forward to seeing which genre they will head butt next.
3/5